Tech news web site Techdirt reported earlier this week that Nevada Senator Harry Reid is attempting to attach a portion of the Stop Online Piracy Act to the USA Freedom Act as a favor to the UFC. Although the bill did not pass, there has been some criticism of Reid for “coat-tailing.”
Essentially, Reid attempted to include portions of the SOPA bill which would lead to criminal consequences for copyright infringers.
The UFC were strong proponents of SOPA. The bill allowed U.S. law enforcement to combat online copyright infringement. Other companies including the WWE, were in favor of this bill.
The USA Freedom Act essentially addressed surveillance of individual’s phone records as well as the bulk collection of Americans’ metadata. The bill arose after Edward Snowden revealed that the NSA was collecting telephone metadata. The bill fell in the Senate this week.
Senator Reid’s office responded to the Techdirt story indicating that the inference that the Nevada senator attempted a surreptitious amendment for his UFC constituents was not true. Techdirt responded to the response saying Senator Reid’s office was incorrect.
Payout Perspective:
It is no secret that Senator Reid and the UFC are friendly. The senator is also a fan of Manny Pacquiao and in the past, Pacquiao has supported his campaigns for reelection. Politicians befriending companies/athletes seeking influence and vice versa is ingrained in American politics. The addition to include portions of the SOPA bill is nothing out of the ordinary as well (even though it was likely out of context based on the rest of the legislation) and while the truth may be inclusion of these portions of SOPA was done at the request of the UFC (and maybe other companies that were proponents of the SOPA bill), there does not appear to be any real wrongdoing here despite the inference that there was (e.g., The Daily Beast). As many who follow politics know, things of this nature occur with little fanfare. The only part that is of note is that it was the UFC.
Sneaky UFC.
Manny had no idea who Reed is nor does he care, Reed is a close friend of scumbag Bob Arum who asked Manny to support Reed. Both reed and arum are complete scumbags and reed most likely is doing this as a favor to anyone who will give him money like the whore that he is. I hope manny Gets knocked out tonight, STAY OUT OF AMERICAN POLITICS YOU PHILIPPINE MONKEY PIECE OF SHIT!
Saldaqueef has no idea who Reid is because he doesn’t even know how to spell his name correctly despite the fact that his name is spelled out several times in the article.